New Member2.

NULL

Staff Member

Hi, i have one for you. whenever i make a fire in my fireplace, it goes out. I start with 2 pieces of rolled up newspaper and a handfull of fatwood sticks. on one side i have a dried log that i use to support another piece of dried wood that i place above the fatwood sticks. The fire stays lit until the fatwood sticks burn out, then quickly dies. The flue is opened, the front vents are open to allow air in, and there is a cap on top of the chimney to prevent animals and birds from nesting in the chimney. the chimney is also shared with my oil burning furnace, but there are 2 separate pipes in the chimney...any suggestions would be helpful.

Answer:

I think your main problem is that you are trying to light one piece of larger wood with just fatwood kindling. What really makes wood burn is the interaction of surfaces of the wood that are close to one another and reflecting back and forth. Use a few piece of middle sized wood over the fatwood and then larger on top of that. Criss-Cross the wood - use the tips at http://hearth.com/what/start.html and you'll be an expert soon.